Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
Why do people not sign their own names to what they write on the internet, and in particular on this blog? I thought I’d ask people this in the form of an anonymous poll. But before I do that, I want to get the full range of possibilities, so I’ve decided to crowdsource the poll questions. To date I have a number of possible reasons someone might give for posting anonymously, which are not mutually exclusive.
Here’s the first cut of possible reasons why someone might post anonymously:
- I’m concerned that putting my real name to my ideas will cause me trouble at my work.
- I’m concerned that putting my real name to my ideas will cause me trouble at home or with my family.
- I’m concerned that putting my real name to my ideas will cause me trouble with my friends and acquaintances.
- I’m concerned that putting my real name to my ideas will cause me trouble at my school or university.
- I’m posting from a country which discourages freedom of speech.
- I’m concerned that someone will take violent exception to my views about climate and threaten me or my family.
- I feel more comfortable posting anonymously, but I’m not sure why.
- I’m concerned about putting any personal information about myself on the web for any reason.
- I find it easier to express negative views when I post anonymously.
- I’m posting from work on company time, or the equivalent (e.g. posting when I’m supposed to be studying).
- I don’t want people to be able to research my previous statements.
Now, my questions about all of this are:
- What else would be another reason that someone might have, that should be listed on the poll?
- What other questions (age, sex, etc.) would it be useful to know?
- How about the wording of the questions? Is it neutral, is it biased?
- Order of the questions? Which ones first, which ones last?
Many thanks for your contributions, the relevant ones will be included in the poll.
w.
PS – Please be clear that I’m interested in possible reasons people might post anonymously on WUWT, not a justification or an argument for or against posting anonymously. This thread is to design the poll, not to debate anonymity.
[UPDATE] Added from the comments, with my thanks. Note that in the poll people will be able to choose more than one response.
- I feel able to express more confident views if those statements aren’t personally attributable to me.
- I’m posting for relaxation – not “publication”.
- Using my real name is just asking for ad hominem attacks.
- I don’t know who might read the post and what they might do with it.
- I don’t wish to disclose my formal qualifications, or lack of them, or that I am in a different field.
- I can say things that I would be embarrassed to say in person.
- I’m lazy.
- I work with people who believe Albert Gore is a scientist.
- I work with clients/customers or in a market where skeptical views are not welcome.
- Metaphorically speaking, I have relatives in the old country …
- To be honest, I also say some pretty stupid things, occasionally, especially when imbibing the suds.
- I am concerned about identity theft.
- It’s a chance to let out my repressed wild and crazy inner personalities.
- Stalking is always a concern to a female.
- I have someone constantly Googling my name.
- It’s traditional since the beginning of the web to have a handle.
- It allows me to “compartmentalize” my opinions on very different subjects.
- I enjoy “trolling”, stirring things up.
- I have worked for oil companies, mining companies or agribusiness and it would likely be held against me.
- I use a moniker because it describes what I am and how I see the world in 3 words.
- I post anonymously for the same reason I do not register a gun.
- Who wants to be responsible for my stupid ramblings when I am involved with Jack Daniels? Not me!
- I am under an implied contract to never make public pronouncement under my name that might in any way embarrass or disadvantage any segment of a multifaceted corporate endeavor / large university / international organization.
- Greenpeace said “We know who you are. We know where you live. We know where you work. And we be many, but you be few.”
- If I posted under my own name, it would be tantamount to expressing my political views to all and sundry and in my industry/job/school would convey a lack of professionalism.
- I am concerned that my age, gender, ethnicity, educational level, etc are factors that can affect the people who read a comment and many of them unfortunately then respond in a biased way.
- I have been attacked for my views.
- It is like putting on a superman suit, you can say anything, be anything and fly anywhere. And if any-one with kryptonite strikes you down, what does it matter, tomorrow you will be Clark Kent.
- To express things I wouldn’t have courage to express otherwise, the same reason many students are hesitant to put their hand up in class.
- I’m not even half as paranoid as I should be.
- I don’t wish for my thoughts and comments from years gone by to turn up whenever someone does a search on my name.
- I enjoy putting forward an identity that says more about me than my name.
- It’s good that no-one on the internet knows if you’re a frog.
- It would be easy to connect up my posts, email address and ultimately my credit cards. Spam and fraud would then follow.
- I don’t want to be associated with my job when posting on technical subjects.
- I am concerned about the UK defamation law.
- In my country you could be targeted by the consensus people.
- I have a common name and use a pseudonym so that I can search for my postings.
- I am concerned it may cost me business/lose me funding.
- I want readers to judge my comments on their content, not their provenance.
- I plan to run for president and want to be able to change my opinions as may be convenient.
- I am pleased to get some protection from the cloud of gnats hovering around the net.
- A future employer might have issues with some of the things I post.
- Didn’t Zorro and the Lone Ranger wear their masks because of things like this?
- I am the sole support of others.
- I’m not British / American, and for an English speaker my name is difficult to remember / sounds weird / carries a silly pun / leads to misunderstandings.
- I think it is fun to call myself by my handle.
- I don’t care.
- My name is the same as a wanted criminal / bad person.
- I don’t want current comments being dredged up in a possible future political campaign.
- I want to maintain plausible deniability.
- Posting anonymously offers an opportunity for crowd-sourced criticism before having my name attached to a bad idea.
- I I do a fair bit of sub-contract work for companies that have bought into the green dream, so I’m invoking my very own version of the … uh … precautionary principle 🙂
- A rabid green has haunted me in other forums.
- I was stalked relentlessly by some creep who decided that it was fun.
Updates to the other questions:
- Would you seriously consider using your real name after a reasonable period of retirement.
- Would you prefer to be able to post under your own name?
- Career
- Age
- Sex
- Location
It has also been correctly noted that I am describing posting pseudonymously, not anonymously.
It strikes me that I haven’t looked at the other side of the equation, why people post under their own name … ah, well, one thing at a time. My own reasons for posting under my own name, in no particular order, would be:
- I want to be able to claim ownership of my ideas.
- I refuse to be intimidated by the dangers of the world.
- I am much better mannered when I have to take responsibility for my words.
- My claims tend to extravagance when I post anonymously.
- I grew up a cowboy, and criticizing someone from behind a mask of anonymity feels like shooting someone from ambush … and a cowboy can’t do that, it’s in the contract, ask Tom Mix.
UPDATES from the comments regarding posting under your own name.
- I am retired, and don’t care if people read what I post.
- I prefer to say what I think and feel anyway without hiding under a cloak.
- I don’t post anonymously because I have a martyr complex.
- I think it is cowardice to post anonymously.
- Because I don’t follow the herd.
- I say what I mean and am terribly honest at it.
- I believe it is simply good manners to identify yourself when talking to people.
- I have no concern about people reading my opinions a decade from now.
- I can’t lie with a straight face.
- I have to stand for what I believe as who I am, otherwise what I say is all posturing.
- I started posting under my real name after making an ass of myself anonymously in a blog comment section.
- Using my name forces me to keep my posts measured and decent.
- I feel uneasy posting anonymously.
- It’s a matter of clarity and honesty.
- If such things as climate change are important we should pony up and admit where we stand.
- I’m confident enough in who I am to not be concerned about what others think of my opinions.
- Since my work is not publicly funded or grant funded, I’m at liberty to say what I wish without concern of losing my job.
- A person of worth will stand up in their own name for what is right and against what is wrong.
- If they want to google my name, they should do it if they don’t have better things to do.
- I have never not posted with my own and real name. Why would I do otherwise?
- I feel free to change my opinion should I have reason to and will defend or dismiss my former opinions accordingly.
- It would be cowardly for me to hide behind an alias.
- A screen name feels like hiding behind a false front.
- I think that in the long view we as a society get along much better when we know each others names.
- If I have too little courage of my own convictions to sign my name to my opinions, why should anyone pay attention?
- I don’t fear professional retribution as most of my peers hold similar views to mine or are just plain disengaged from the topic of global warming.
- It’s a statement that I will not be intimidated.
- I am totally uninterested about what other people think of me.
- I’ve had my own name a long time and have grown attached to it.
- I consider my self responsible for my own opinions.
- If I write something, I’ll stand for it, or I would not write it.
- I dislike anonymity on principle
That’s it to date, I’ll add more as they come up. I must say that I find the variety of reasons much wider and deeper than I had expected. Ain’t life grand?
Indeed, I rather like this process of crowdsourcing the poll questions. It strikes me that this is a kind of appreciative inquiry that could be of use in other contexts where there is a wide variety of opinions.
w.
I am retired, and don’t care if people read what I post. Nobody will care much about what I would say anyway, so I feel free to say it.
I think you’ve covered most of the bases with those questions Willis. I’ll be happy to vote and look forward to the results. I tried something similar a few months back, asking for a slightly different reason.
http://diggingintheclay.wordpress.com/2010/11/28/are-you-a-closet-skeptic/
http://diggingintheclay.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/skeptics-in-the-closet-poll-results/
Something I’d like to share too – I’ll email you.
I reside in a sparsely populated region with a strong predominance of environmental extremists. In order to minimise the risk of violent retribution against family, most (but not all) of my media comments are made anonymously.
Jantar says:
April 24, 2011 at 12:13 am
Off thread but did you have a sailplane?
I’ve been using the same pseudonym almost exclusively for more than 15 years; it seems more natural than my real name 🙂
Although there maybe other people using the same nickname (though I haven’t met one), it’s very easy to find out my real name, should anyone wish to do so. So I don’t consider myself to be “anonymous”.
Having said that, I would have no problem at all using my real name at a place like WUWT, if that was required.
(In fact, as I’m writing this I’m not sure whether I do use my sig or my real name 🙂 )
Verity Jones says:
April 24, 2011 at 2:19 am
Interesting poll, Verity, thanks for the links.
w.
Using your real name may lead to attacks on SOMEONE ELSE with the same name as yours.
By the way I just Googled “Anthony Watts” and got wuwt as well as a news story that reads:
I also got Professor Anthony Watts who teaches at Oxford. His full contact details are there and you can imagine the kind of emails he gets even though he may or may not be a global warming sceptic.
Can you see the problem????
Willis
I always sign with my full name. I try to take responsibility for my words.
In my own blog I request people to use their full name when writing comments.
Best regards from Iceland.
Agust
In the UK you very quickly learn that divulging your identity to anyone is likely to make you the target of spammers etc, or anyone who thinks they can make a bit of money out of you.
Except for trolling, I don’t see anonymity on blogs as being a bad thing – after all, one is supposed to argue the topic, not the person.
My real name is— as advertised above. My email address shows there are many of us using that particular ISP. So a real name that is anonymous.
Why don’t I use my full name and why do I use a handle in some forums? Mostly, I know quite a lot about computers and computer communications. I think that communications security is somewhere between seriously flawed and pretty much non-existent. It’s quite impossible to predict what financial and other damage can be done by those who can put together enough information about me. I’ve already had a couple of small scale identity theft problems with credit cards, and fully expect more in the future.
I’d prefer that my on-line identity be a little hazy. Not a lot. I expect that anyone who really cares can track me down and put together a pretty complete profile. But I’d like to make it hard enough that stealing my identity is a bit harder than stealing my neighbor’s. Let them deal with the grief if this on-line security thing plays out badly.
Willis, I think there is quite a large gap between posting anonymously, pseudonymously and under a nickname, as several people have noted above, and I suspect the motivations might vary considerably between the groups?
Something that is touched on by some of your questions, but which is a big factor for anyone in the job market, is that it is fairly common for HR types to do web searches and to check social media sites for info on short-listed job applicants. So a question about damaging job prospects might be appropriate?
And finally, may I suggest the null hypothesis as well – e.g. I do it for no particular reason at all, it’s just what I’ve always done. Or, yeah, I post under a nickname, but it’s what everyone calls me anyway, and have done since forever.
The Ghost of Big Jim Cooley said
“We have a saying here in England (Yorkshire-based) which goes, “There’s nowt so queer as folk”. In case it’s not a dead-giveaway to our American friends, it means that there’s nothing as odd as people.
I came to realise many years ago that we’re all mentally disturbed, it’s just by degrees. I have upset some people with what I have written in the past, so keeping myself anonymous is essential.”
——-
I’m a Yorkshire Lass, too. Big Jim’s statement above describes my own reasons for anonymity perfectly.
(However, when contributing to tip jars, which I do pretty often, I’m perfectly happy to take the credit with my “realname” email address!
!
Willis, you might want to watch this from the comedy sitcom ‘Yes Minister’ – The Truth Behind Opinion Polls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgyKpkLpccE
You can get the answer you want by framing the question(s) in the right way.
Two reasons:
1. Its traditional with me. I’ve used the name “Allen” for all computer activity — since the days of the TSS360 300bit/sec terminals in the 1960s.
2. Security. I do not want complete strangers to know how to get into physical contact with me.
As to my qualifications to have opinions regarding science and engineering topics: I am extremely qualified. However, as a post above mentions, people should respond to the “idea” expressed in a post — not who is expressing it.
Another Ian says:
Off thread but did you have a sailplane?
You guessed exactly where my username comes from; My favourite glider is the Jantar std2, fast and fully aerobatic. I’ve never owned one, but flown a club one many hundreds of hours.
Although now considered older generation, and not as good glide ratio as many modern machines it still makes me grin every time I climb aboard.
If AGW is abandoned as false then this thread will prove to be very instructive for historians examining the phenomenon of AGW hysteria and why it took such a hold. Print out and archive.
I don’t like (actually actively avoid) to create a coherent identity on the Net, as it easily opens the possibility of it being exploited. That is why I use a pseudonym, as anopheles notes, not anonimity.
“It’s not about me”: The real identity of the writer is irrelevant to the quality of the ideas posted, or its lack. Complaining about anonimity or pseudonimity is like a reverse ex cathedra (authority) argument.
A useful addition to this conversation is that several responders to this blog work in Australia where AGW politics are out of control and fear of identification is strong unless you support the current political fashion. Dissidents have legitimate reason to expect a career shortening, even though dissidents are 60%+ of the population, according to the most recent opinion polls. A government is about to fall as a result of its advocacy of a tax on carbon dioxide. There are parallels in history, such as the last days of the Weimar Republic …
The very first time I decided to post a comment, the blog asked for a ‘screen name’ so I chose one that expressed my feelings about the subject.
I always provide my full name (extremely unique Turkish name) in direct correspondence and also used my name on the Citizens Audit project because of the seriousness of the project.
I don’t wear a name tag when walking down the street, but I introduce myself when asked. I’m happy to provide my name if anyone asks, nobody has.
I’ve often wondered, if Willes used a screen name would I think less of his wonderful posts? The answer has always been no. In any case, for all I know Willeses real name is Horatio Hornblower.
You talkin’ to me?
When I first started looking into Global warming I quickly became convinced that there was some sort of conspiracy going on as the claims of doom clashed with the intuition that my applied maths and physics background gave to me about the subject. Well founded as Climategate etc showed. So when I started to write on blogs the name simply reflected that root of conspiracy and my desire for privacy.
It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that much of the real reasoning has to do with fear. A factor with many roots. The second point that sticks out, although this is not really an issue on this site, is how rude and aggressive some people are when leaving anonymous comments. A glance a YOUTUBE reveals this all too clearly.
As an occasional commentater under his own name I seriously doubt anyone will really bothered about my views, but I prefer to say what I think and feel anyway without hiding under a cloak.
Oh one other thing, it certainly makes sure I avoid being overly aggressive or rude, not that it is my nature but still.
One reason that doesn’t appear to have been mentioned for anonymous posting is very simple: I want readers to judge my comments on their content, not their provenance.
I would also note that my current alias ‘Dave’ is intended more as a lack of identity than as an identity – the whole point is, again, that I’m just part of an indistinguishable mass.
I also, from time to time, post under another, more identifiable pseudonym. Those posts are much more carefully considered – in style as well as in content – and I’m happy to have them grouped together as the output of one character. That character’s not me, though – he’s a fictional character who thinks much the same way I do, but is more fun. Too hard to write for him the whole time, though, so ‘Dave’ comments when there’s just some throwaway thought to add, and the other character when there’s something properly thought out to say.
Ah but how do we know if it’s your real name? Apart from a number of fairly well known folk the rest of us are not up there with the good and mightly.
Personally I will carry on using the tag I’ve had for many, many years, a lot of folk who know me know me by it and I’m just too lazy to change it now. Besides some of my friends are way to easy to confuse, it’s an age thing.